Cinnamic acid (CA), which is a well-known major autotoxin secreted by the roots in cucumber continuous cropping, has been proven to exhibit inhibitory regulation of plant morphogenesis and development. Melatonin (MT) has been recently demonstrated to play important roles in alleviating plant abiotic stresses. To investigate whether MT supplementation could improve cucumber seedling growth under...

Germination and seedling growth of major cereals treated with Moringa oleifera leaf extracts was investigate at University of Zambia. Aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera at the ratio of 1:10 (w/v) were sprayed on seed of maize (Zea mays. L.), rice (Oryzae sativa.L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor. L.) and wheat (Triticum Aestivum. L.) in a growth room at 25C for 14 days. The data were subjected to a...

The COP9 signalosome (CSN) is a multiple-subunit protein complex involved in protein degradation. The CSN was identified from constitutive photomorphogenic/ deetiolated/fusca ( cop/det/fus ) mutants of Arabidopsis that mimic light-induced seedling development when grown in the dark (Wei et al., 1994). Subsequently, the CSN was found to be highly evolutionarily conserved (Seeger et al., 1998; We...

Climate change induced alterations to rainfall patterns have the potential to affect the regeneration dynamics of plant species, especially in historically everwet tropical rainforest. Differential species response to infrequent rainfall may influence seed germination and seedling establishment in turn affecting species distributions. We tested the role of watering frequency intervals (from dai...

Plants are constantly exposed to a wide range of environmental genotoxic stress factors including obligatory exposure to UV radiation in sunlight. Here, we report the functional characterization of a DNA repair protein, AtPolλ, a homolog of mammalian DNA polymerase λ in Arabidopsis, in relation to its role in repair of UV-B-induced DNA damage during early stages of seedling development. The abu...

The seedling development and physiological responses of Iris pseudacorus L. to Pb and Cd and their combination were studied for 28 days liquid culture and sub-cellular localization of Pb and Cd in the root tip cells treated with 2,070 mg L(-1) Pb and 1,000 mg L(-1)Cd for 16 days sand culture was evaluated. Results showed that the dry weights (DWs) of shoots and roots of I. pseudacorus were sign...

Atmospheric CO2 and tropospheric O3 are rising in many regions of the world. Little is known about how these two commonly co-occurring gases will affect reproductive fitness of important forest tree species. Here, we report on the long-term effects of CO2 and O3 for paper birch seedlings exposed for nearly their entire life history at the Aspen FACE (Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment) site in ...